Rotary barricade



Oct. 26, 1965 w. J. POWERS, JR 3,213,810

ROTARY BARRICADE Filed May 29, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l5 le INVENTOR WILLIAM J. POWERS, JR.

ATTORNEY Oct- 26, 1965 w. J. POWERS, JR 3,213,810

ROTARY BARRIGADE Filed May 29, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 0 coNvEYoR O DRIVE O E 0 24a cooRolNATlNG 0 MEANS ROTARY GATE' slsNALs FROM DR'VE MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS INVENTOR WILLIAM J. POWERS, JR.,

ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,213,810 ROTARY BARRICADE William J. Powers, Jr., Wilmington, Del., assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 29, 1963, Ser. No. 284,145 2 Claims. (Cl. 109-58.5)

This Iinvention relates to a rotary barricade, and particularly to a rotary barricade adapted to use in the manufacture of explosive components, such as blasting caps and the like.

The manufacture of exposive components, such as blasting caps, fuses and the like, involves a sequence of orderly operations which are preferably conducted in areas isolated one from another so that personnel exposure is reduced to a minimum and any accident occurring with respect to one operation will not have destructive effects on neighboring operations or on the persons conducting them. To achieve this objective, barricades of various types have been employed; however, these have not been a completely satisfactory solution of the problem due to th fact that transportation of components from one manufacturing area to another is, of course, absolutely essential and the prior art barricades did not afford satisfactory ingress and egress.

A principal object of this invention is to provide a barricade wheren a protective wall is, at all times, interposed between one manufacturing area and the adjacent area on the other side of the barricade, even while the actual transfer of explosive components from one area to another is being accomplished. Another object of this invention is the provision of a barricade which is adapted to straightline transfer of explosive components from individual work areas to neighboring work areas. Another object is a barricade occupying a minimum of space. Other objects of this invention include the use of a barricade of a design which is adapted ot coordinate operation in multiple from a common control point, which is cheap in irst cost and maintenance and which is relatively simple in construction. The manner in which these and other objects of this invention are accomplished will become apparent from the following detailed description and the drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end elevation of a preferred embodiment of b-arricade according to this invention mounted in position on the wall separating one manufacturing cubicle from another,

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation taken on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is an exploded oblique view of the barricade of FIGURES 1 and 2, and

FIGURE 4 is a schematic view of a suitable system for coordinating operation of the barricade with the operations being performed lin the manufacturing areas it is disposed between.

Generally, the apparatus of this invention comprises a solid plate adapted to be connected to the wall separating one manufacturing area or cubicle from another at a point wherein an opening is cut through the wall, which plate is provided with an impervious housing having entery and exit ports which is formed internally to receive a rotatable gate having a closure portion fabricated in a circular arc adapted to mate closely within the housing, a reciprocatory conveyor means mounted within a through-going passage in the housing out of line with the rotatable gate, and means for rotating the gate to open or close the entry and exit ports and thereby control with one or the other cubicles selectively.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the barricade wall separating one manufacturing cubicle from another is represented.

3,213,810 Patented Oct. 26, 1965 rice as a steel partion 10 provided with a cut-out opening 11 which is closed off except as here-inafter described by plates 12a and 12b and their .apurtenances, which latter, in combination, comprise the rotary barricade of this invention. In use, it is contemplated that a multiplicity of barricades will be mounted in a straight line running through aligned openings in successive cubicle walls disposed generally parallel to each other and all disposed in the direction of the arrow at the bottom of FIGURE 1, which indicates the direction of carrier indexing.

Plates 12a and 12b are conveniently attached to walls 10 around the periphery of opening 11 by a plurality of socket-head bolts 13 which engage with companionate nuts 14 welded on the opposite sides of appropriate bores drilled in walls 10. To permit accurate aligning of successive plates 12a and 12b, it is preferred to mount the plates loosely with respect to walls 10, leaving a space between the plate and the wall for the reception of a mould spacer 15 which permits some relative rotation of plates 12 around their axes for ease in precise alignment. Aligning of the plates 12 in respect to partition 10, about three mutually perpendicular axes, is accomplished by means of a plurality :of set screws 60a, 60b, 61a, 61b, 62a, and 62b; each of which is threadedly engaged in suitable holes in the plates 12 or in the frame 16. The pairs of set screws 60a-60b and 61a-61b permit adjustment about horizontal and vertical axes, respectively, while the pair of set screws 62a-62b, permit elevational adjustments of the plates 12 as well as angular adjustment about a horizontal axis disposed perpendicular to the face of partition 10.

Mould spacers 15 can convenient-ly be polymeric materials, or the like, wh-ich Iset up after placement, so that plates 12 can be aligned with great accuracy prior to setting of the mould material with consequent locking of the plate in iinal position. Preferably, a .protecting angle iron frame 16 is welded closely adjacent the periphery of plates 12 to define therewith a blind metal-to-metal passage 17 of considerable length between the right-hand cubicle room and the polymeric moulding. It will be noted that cut-out opening 11 provides a similar blind metal-to-metal passage as regards the cubicle to the left of partition 10 as seen in FIGURE l. As used herein, the expression metal-to-metal passage refers to a narrow opening between two or more metal components. There passages are proportioned to bar propagation through the barricade of an explosion occurring on one side or the other of wall 10, i.e., the metal-to-metal passages attenuate the shock wave produced by such an explosion. In the case of the above blind passages, they cooperate with spacer 15 to prevent the shock pressure from passing around the edges of plates 12a and 12b.

Plates 12a is provided with integral ange portions which extend outwardly on one side of partition 10 as indicated at 22 and on the other side at 23. Flanges 22 and 23 together define a removable end Wall 24a of housing 24 in which the rotary gate is mounted. The remainder of the housing, 24b, is of one-piece construction and is provided on oppoiste sides with openings 25 and 26 aligned one with another along horizontal lines and these together constitute the passage for transfer of explosive components from one cubicle to another when the rotary gate of the barricade is opened.

The gate generally is indicated at 27, and consists of a generally cylindrical rim 28 which is cut away over its full length through about as indicated at 29 to provide an opening into the interior of the gate. A typical gate will be formed from steel plate, with wall 28 being only of the order of about 1" thick. The gate is supported on opposite arms 30 which are welded or otherwise flxedly `secured to shafts 31, which are mounted centrally of the housing. Support arms 30 are attached to rim 28 at each end thereof and are relatively thin in crosssection so that they obtrude only slightly into the intermediate expanse of rim 2S and, therefore, they impinge only slightly -on the free space interior of rim 28. The housing is provided with interior cylindrical surfaces 32 and 33 over the entire extent which mate closely with the exterior of rim 28, dening therewith a clearance of about 1/32 extent wherever the surfaces of the housing and the gate are opposed.

As seen in FIGURE 2, the ends of shafts 31 and 31a are journaled for free rotation within pillow blocks 37 and 38, bolted to the outside surfaces of flange 23 and the end wall of 24b, respectively. Shafts 31 and 31a are secured by means of locating collars 63 and 63a on the outboard side of bearings 37 and 38, respectively. .Collars 63 and 63a serve to hold the end portions of the gate 27 (including the rim 28 and the arms 30) spaced axially by about 1/32" from the inner face of end wall 24a and the inner end face of the housing section 24h. The intermediate portions of flanges 22 and 23, indicated at 39 and 40, respectively, are extended outwardly on circular arcs drawn from the axis of shaft 31 as center, and the surfaces of 24b are similarly formed in prolongation. Thus, the end faces of rim 28 constitute with the inside ends of the housing narrow metal-to-metal passages 42 and 43 of the order of 119,2 clearance which bar the propagation of explosions therealong from one cubicle to the other.

The lower portion of the housing 24 is provided at its bottom with a centrally located opening 64 which is adapted to be connected to a pipe (not shown). The purpose of this is to conduct material spilled within the housing to a point outside the barricade from which it may be safely removed and discarded.

For ease in assembly end wall 24a and section 24b of housing 24 are held together as a unit by bolts 45 in the upper and lower parts of the flanges threaded into mating bores in the end of 24b. Thus, if it ever becomes necessary to dismantle shafts 31 or 31a from pillow blocks 37 and 38, or to elfect repairs to the inside of rim 28, the barricade can be readily rremoved from partition by unscrewing bolts 13, after which it can itself be dismantled by removal of bolts 45. i In the construction hereinabove described in detail, it is most convenient to use an automatically actuated through-going conveyor servicing all of the cubicles in unison; however, it will be understood that the barricade of this invention is adapted for use with a variety of different manually or power-actuated work-transporting mechanisms. The conveyor .particularly described comprises two stiff metal rails 50 of a sucient length to thread all of the cubicles. The rails have a cross-section somewhat like that of an angle iron and are adapted to reciprocate transversely of the barricade. The left-hand rail 50 is mounted for free sliding movement within a companionate through-going passage 51 machined in the inner faces of end wall 24a whereas right-hand rail 50 is similarly mounted within an identical passage 52. It will be noted that this arrangement provides a clearance of the order of about 1&2" between the inside faces of the rails 50 and the end portions of rim 28, thereby constituting metal-to-metal passages at these points which prevent the propagation of explosions therealong. Passages of considerably greater length exist between the top, bottom and outside surfaces of rails 50 and the adjacent surfaces of the channels in which the rails are respectively mounted, which passages serve the same purpose. As can be seen from FIGURE 2, rails 50 lie completely outside of the path of rotational movement of gate 27 and constitute no interference therewith.

As schematically shown in FIGURE 4, operation of the conveyor bars (rails 50) is coordinated in time phase with rotation of gate 27 so that the gate will open and close at the appropriate time to permit the material being conveyed to enter or exit the barricade, as the case may be. Generally, signals from the manufacturing operations being serviced by the conveyor will actuate the coordinating means, which, in turn, actuates the respective gate and conveyor drives at the desired times.

In the preferred embodiment, rails 50 are undercut at the top surface at equidistant intervals as indicated at 57, FIGURE 1, to receive snugly the edges of carrier trays 58 which are disposed in a horizontal plane with top edges coextensive, or a little below, the plane of the top surfaces of rails 50. Carrier trays 58 do not constitute a part of this invention, and it will be understood that these trays can be fabricated in a variety of diiferent designs. A preferred design utilizes vertical drilled passages arranged in an even pattern over the central portion of the carrier tray which are provided with rubber grommets tightly engaging the outside peripheries of the work in process. The Work in this instance consists of a plurality of blasting caps, one of which is diagrammatically shown at 59, arranged with open ends disposed upwardly, the work operation to be performed consisting of loading the explosive fillings therein. It is preferred to mechanize the operation of loading the blasting caps, which is effected in a sequence of individual operations each one of which is reserved for one cubicle. T o restrict explosions to any single cubicle in which they may occur, each wall is provided with an individual rotary barricade, all of which are arranged in straight line orientation one with respect to the others.

With this arrangement, a typical spacing of undercuts 57 is several feet and it is contemplated that individual carriers 58 will be moved from one cubicle through the rotary barricades in partitions 10 into the next-succeeding cubicle wherein the carrier trays will be lifted from rails 50 and the rails returned to their original positions by reciprocation in the reverse direction so that they are restored to initial position for receipt of another carrier tray 58. During return of rails 50 to original position, the particular-manufacturing operation carried on at each cubicle is effected simultaneously on the carrier trays within each of the stations, after which the carrier trays are positioned within undercuts 57 newly presented to each cubicle and the next indexing of the carrier moves all carrier trays 58 one more cubicle ahead.

In operation, it is assumed that the feeding step of the carrier is from right to left as indicated by the arrow in FIGURE 1. Accordingly, carrier tray 58 is placed in undercut 57 in rails 50 within the cubicle to the right of partition 10. Gate 27 is situated in operation position with cut away expanse 29, occupying approximately of the total periphery, disposed towards the right-hand cubicle, so that the interior of the barricade is completely open to the right-hand cubicle. All of the barricades are preferably operated simultaneously and this is conveniently accomplished by providing the outboard end of shaft 31a, shown broken away at the right side of FIGURE 2, with a suitable gear wheel, not shown, cooperating with a rack running the full length of rails 50, which rack is operated in timed coordination with the various manufacturing operations conducted in the cubicles, so that the barricades open and close in perfect coordination with reciprocation of the pair of rails 50 as a unit which is likewise time-coordinated with the manufacturing operations being carried on.

Thus, when the barricades receive trays 58, the wall of rim 28 opposite cut away portion 29 is interposed between the left-hand cubicle and the right-hand, thereby barring the propagation of explosions from one cubicle to the other. After trays 58 are centrally located within the barricade, as shown in FIGURE 1, where they pose no interference whatever to the rotational movement of the barricade, gate 27 is rotated counter-clockwise 180, so that cut-out portion 29 is now adjacent the left-hand cubicle and the thickness of rim 28 is correspondingly moved toa position barring communication with the right-hand cubicle. Continued movement together of rails 50 to the left brings carrier tray 58 completely outside the barricade into the left-hand cubicle, where the tray is removed and the next-succeeding manufacturing operation performed thereon. While this manufacturing operation is proceeding, the rails 50 (without any carrier tray thereon) are moved to the right while at the same time the barricade is restored to its initial position by clockwise rotation of gate 27 through an angle of 180 to the position shown in FIGURE l; the rails 50 and the undercut 57 move to a precise position (not shown) in the right-hand cubicle at which position the undercut is ready to receive the next-following carrier tray.

In the preferred embodiment, it is desired to cause the carrier trays 58 to dwell centrally of the barricades while effecting rotation of the barricade gates 27. This is accomplished by means of three hydraulic cylinders, solenoid operated valves, a source of hydraulic fluid, limit switches and electrical circuits none of which are shown. Two of the hydraulic cylinders are disposed in series with each other and function to move the rails 50 in the manner described below, while the third cylinder is adapted to reciprocate the rack which rotates the gates. The system operates as follows: Limit switches on each manufacturing apparatus are actuated by the final operation of the apparatus (e.g., by placement of carrier trays 58 within the undercut 57 in the rails 50, thus closing an electrical circuit and energizing a solenoid Valve; this valve admits hydraulic iiuid to the first of the two serially connected cylinders thus driving both of the rails 50 through a portion of their stroke so that the carrier trays 58 are moved tot a position centrally of the barricade (shown in FIGURE l). At this stage the first cylinder reaches the end of its stroke and engages a limit switch, thus energizing another solenoid valve which admits fluid to the rack and gate driving cylinder. When the gates have been rotated by 180, yet another switch functions to admit fluid to the second of the serially connected cylinders, thus driving the rails 50 through the remaining portion of their stroke, transporting the carrier trays 58 from the gate. Still other switches function to start the manufacturing equipment into operation, the first step being to lift the rays 58 from the rails 50; while the manufacturing operations are being carried out, the rails are moved back to their starting position by admitting fluid to both of the serially connected cylinders and at the same time the gates are rotated 180 to their starting position preparatory for the next cycle of advancing the carrier trays 58 from cubicle to cubicle.

Where the barricade gates are relatively small in inside diameter, it is preferred to index trays 58 into position within the barricades by a first step prior to rotation of the internal gate of the barricade to bar egress from the delivering cubicle and open ingress to the receiving cubicle; however, it will be understood that rotation of gate 27 can be just as well accomplished with continuous reciprocatory movement of rails 50, provided that the timing is precise enough so that there is no interference with operation of the barricade by trays 58. Under the latter circumstances, there need be no dwell of carrier rails 50 at a point holding the rays stationary within the barricades but, instead, the delivery operation can be effected by one smooth continuous movement to the left as indicated in FIGURE 1.

It will be noted that, when the rotary gate 27 has moved so that cut-out 29 is in 12 oclock position, the

imperforate metal rim 28 bars ingress to both cubicles simultaneously. In this position trays 5S with their explosive loadings are completely out of communication with the manufacturing cubicles, and it may be desirable to regard this position of the barricade as the maximum safety position, which would be the preferred orientation in the event that emergency maintenance `or other loperations on the manufacturing equipment or the like are required.

The barricades of this invention are constructed of conventional materials, e.g., steel plate or cast steel. The dimensions of the various components are not critical and will necessarily depend on the manufacturing operation involved.

From the foregoing, it will be understood that this invention can be varied in numerous respects without departure from its essential spirit, and it is therefore intended to be limited only by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A metal barricade adapted to be mounted in an opening in a Wall defining two separate work areas, comprising in combination a support plate for fastening the barricade to said wall around the periphery of said opening, a housing carried by and extending from both sides of said support plate, said housing having a pair of oppositely disposed openings therein, one on each side of said plate, a rotatable gate of generally circular periphery journaled within said housing with its outside periphery closely adjacent the inside periphery of said housing, the periphery of said rotatable gate being provided with a cutout having substantially the same size and shape as each of said openings in said housing, a pair of reciprocatory conveyor bars mounted one on each side of said rotatable gate in a channel in said housing, said conveyor bars being disposed at close clearances with respect to said housing and said rotatable gate, means connected to said gate for rotating said gate to align said cut-out with a preselected one of said openings in said housing to thereby afford ingress or egress through the barricade to a preselected one of said two separate work areas while barring propagation of an explosion into the other of said work areas, and means coordinating in time phase the operation of said pair of conveyor bars as a single unit with the rotation of said gate.

2. A metal barricade of claim 5 wherein the clearance between the outside periphery of said gate and the inside periphery of said housing, between each conveyor bar and the adjacent end of said gate, and between each conveyor bar and the channel-defining surfaces of said housing is about 1/32 of an inch, and the minimum length of any passage defined by such clearances is about one inch.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,711,100 4/29 Payzant 214-18 X 1,905,572 4/ 33 Sioberg 109-55 2,051,753 8/36 Steckly 109-1 2,695,574 11/54 Ceci 268-59 2,926,012 2/60 Maher 268-16 HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A METAL BARRICADE ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED IN AN OPENING IN A WALL DEFINING TWO SEPARATE WORK AREAS, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION A SUPPORT PLATE FOR FASTENING THE BARRICADE TO SAID WALL AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF SAID OPENING, A HOUSING CARRIED BY AND EXTENDING FROM BOTH SIDES OF SAID SUPPORT PLATE, SAID HOUSING HAVING A PAIR OF OPPOSITELY DISPOSED OPENINGS THEREIN, ONE ON EACH SIDE OF SAID PLATE, A ROTATABLE GATE OF GENERALLY CIRCULAR PERIPHERY JOURNALED WITHIN SAID HOUSING WITH ITS OUTSIDE PERIPHERY CLOSELY ADJACENT THE INSIDE PERIPHERY OF SAID HOUSING, THE PERIPHERY OF SAID ROTATABLY GATE BEING PROVIDED WITH A CUTOUT HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME SIZE AND SHAPE AS EACH OF SAID OPENINGS IN SAID HOUSING, A PAIR OF RECIPROCATORY CONVEYOR BARS MOUNTED ONE ON EACH SIDE OF SAID ROTATABLE GATE IN A CHANNEL IN SAID HOUSING, SAID CONVEYOR BARS BEING DISPOSED AT CLOSE CLEARANCES WITH RESPECT TO SAID HOUSING AND SAID ROTATABLE GATE, MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID GATE FOR ROTATING SAID GATE TO ALIGN SAID CUT-OUT WITH A PRESELECTED ONE OF SAID OPENINGS IN SAID HOUSING TO THEREBY AFFORD INGRESS OR EGRESS THROUGH THE BARRICADE TO A PRESELECTED ONE OF SAID TWO SEPARATE WORK AREAS WHILE BARRING PROPAGATION OF AN EXPLOSION INTO THE OTHER OF SAID WORK AREAS, AND MEANS COORDINATING IN TIME PHASE THE OPERATION OF SAID PAIR OF CONVEYOR BARS AS A SINGLE UNIT WITH THE ROTATION OF SAID GATE. 